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Protecting Detroit's Artwork Is a Job for Detroit

By now, everybody in the world knows that the city of Detroit has finally filed for bankruptcy—and everybody in the art world knows that its museum, the Detroit Institute of Arts, is in deep trouble.

Here's why:

Detroit owes roughly $18 billion that it doesn't have. The 60,000-plus works of art in the DIA's collection are owned by the city, not the museum (as is normally the case). According to the Detroit Free Press, the 38...